There is a long-standing tradition in the Church of beginning the day with prayer. It is always good to begin the day acknowledging that God walks with you every step of the way. Catholic schools do this every day. It could be a short prayer like ‘Come, Lord Jesus walk with me today’.
The Lord, of course, can touch lives at any time of the day and can do so even if we are not consciously seeking to be touched by his presence. That was the experience of Peter in the gospel. He was washing his fishing nets with his brother and some friends when Jesus touched his life, stepping into his boat and asking him to put out a little from the shore so that he could teach the crowd. All of a sudden Simon found himself listening to Jesus’ teaching. Jesus then asked Peter to ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch’.
Having failed to catch fish at the most likely time, during the night, this request made little sense to him, yet, he responded to the Lord’s call and, to his amazement, found himself abundantly graced with a huge catch of fish. Aware that he was in God’s presence, Peter became conscious of his unworthiness before God present in Jesus, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man’ he said. However, Jesus had not finished because he then declared that from now on it would be people that Peter would be catching and thus sharing in Jesus’ mission of gathering all people into God’s kingdom. This suggests that the Lord can touch each of our lives in a very striking way as we go about our daily activities. The fact that we are not consciously thinking about the Lord, much less seeking him, does not mean that he cannot touch us in a very personal way. We just need to be open to the possibility.
In the second reading Paul suggests that the Lord can touch our lives even when we are actively working against him. ‘I persecuted the church of God’ Paul said, believing the new movement within Judaism was a dangerous innovation that threatened the traditions of the elders. In violently opposing it, however, he was opposing God who revealed himself through Jesus. It was while he was opposing the Lord’s work that the Lord touched his life showing us that the Lord can touch our lives at the most unexpected times. Paul’s experience left him with a sense of being abundantly and undeservedly graced. He was made open to the Lord’s grace-filled love, a love freely given and completely unmerited. His story shows us that the Lord wants to grace us with his loving touch at all times of our lives; be open to this possibility.
A third person touched by the Lord is the prophet Isaiah whose experience of the Lord’s touch happened while at prayer. As with Peter, his sense of the Lord’s presence made him aware of himself as a sinner, but, as with Peter, the Lord continued by entrusting him with a mission. For many people of faith, it is during prayer that they are most likely to experience the Lord’s transforming touch. Yet, the experience of Peter and Paul reminds us that the Lord who fills a place of prayer like the Temple, our parish church, or our homes also fills the whole earth
by Fr Thomas O'BRIEN a.a
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